CHAPTER EIGHT

Conclusions

The 1974 UNESCO Recommendation was drafted by government representatives of countries whose cultural backgrounds, educational systems and ideological perspectives mirror the diversity that exists among the nations and peoples of our planet. It is a consensus instrument that draws on a number of different educational philosophies and pedagogic methods to promote its goals. The significance of this Recommendation derives in large measure from the fact that in it the UNESCO Member States were able to agree on a comprehensive set of principles and policies governing international education. In the international arena, this agreement gives political legitimacy to efforts designed to promote global and human rights education.

The Recommendation can also provide American educators with important insights about attitudes and values that their peers in other parts of the world wish to see reflected in international education programs. Such programs can greatly benefit from intellectual cross-fertilization and transnational cooperation.

The progress in international education during the last several decades has been toward greater realism as evidenced by the articulation of more concrete goals. There seems to be a clearer perception of the reality of global interdependence and its relation to the national interest; an increased appreciation of the interrelationship of ongoing school programs with other parts of the social and educational systems; a growing recognition of the importance of the structure of the school as well as the content of curriculum; an awareness of the importance of teacher preparation as well as the production of appropriate curriculum materials; and, finally, a sharper focus on education as a means of enhancing the average citizen's motivation to participate in world affairs rather than being a passive observer.

Many of these concerns are reflected in the educational principles that the UNESCO Recommendation articulates. In the realization of these principles, human rights education becomes an integral part of international education; life-long education takes on a higher priority than schooling restricted to the years from 6 to 16; the value of interdisciplinary international education is recognized; and the importance of knowledge about the efforts of various international organizations in helping to solve local, national and world problems is stressed.

The emphasis on enhanced knowledge of international human rights efforts

in this Recommendation reflects a widely shared view about the importance of education in exploring the universality of mankind's yearning for human rights. (The scope of this universality is attested to by the many human rights instruments that the UN and other international and regional organizations have adopted.) Programs that fail to take account of the long-range political implications of the international human rights movement and the dynamics of the international processes and systems that give it increasing vitality clearly fail to respond to some of the most basic human needs and political issues of our times. This is one aspect of international education that American educators cannot afford to neglect.

Education has a tremendous but unrealized potential for influencing the international orientations of students. Action to improve education in this respect must take place in a variety of modes and at all levels of instruction beginning no later than the elementary school.

Laudable ideas about international understanding and peace represent only a small first step in a very complex process. Teachers need preparation which will help them to optimally utilize not only available materials but also the possibilities for meaningful interaction among students, and between students and teachers. The current practice of stressing factual material will need to be supplemented by a more dynamic issue-oriented discussion of the role that individuals, groups and nations play in today's world. An international and intercultural dimension should be an explicit and implicit part of classroom functioning. In this connection, it is worth emphasizing that the global perspective can be fostered through many subject areas without detracting from the mastery of prescribed material.

Instructional materials dealing with other countries will have to be improved and brought up to date and references to global problems included in many courses. Materials concerned with human rights need to be written since very little currently exists which meets the special needs of American students for a perspective on international human rights. One method, frequently adopted in UNESCO Associated School projects, is to choose a specific theme for study which has local, national and international ramifications. Human rights issues are particularly well-suited for this approach. But there are many other techniques to accomplish similar results.

Material which considers the dynamic processes of transnational interaction, analyzing the roles of governmental institutions (e.g., the UN, World Health Organization, Universal Postal Union) and private organizations (e.g., Amnesty International, multi-national corporations), is needed to supplement the current more static emphasis on the study of the structure of governmental organizations and the ceremonial activities of national leaders. The need is even more pressing for curriculum units which integrate all of these topics: the international protection of human rights, the international dimensions of local and national problems, the activities which comprise transnational interaction, and the process by which human beings come to understand the points of view

of individuals from other nations and cultures. There is a great need for materials at the elementary as well as the secondary school level. Only when such teaching resources become available will it be possible to present the ramifications of realistic citizenship education in a global as well as domestic

context.

Further research is needed into the nature of existing opinions and processes of attitude formation and change in young people. This should include the careful evaluation of materials and methods to minimize slippage between objectives and results. In-class interview projects and careful classroom observation undertaken by teachers as well as projects constructed by research specialists can contribute to this effort.

In the case of some individuals or school districts, attempts to implement the principles proclaimed in the Recommendation will simply require an intensification of on-going efforts to include an international dimension in classroom activities and to focus on the global aspects of social, economic and political problems.

A more concerted effort will be necessary to launch international human rights education. The stress in American civic education programs on domestic human rights, coupled with the failure of the United States to ratify major UN human rights treaties and the consequent lack of awareness of their existence on the part of Americans, makes a special educational effort necessary. Those who would undertake this task must not only familiarize themselves with the basic information regarding international human rights documents and institutions described in this book; they must also prepare curriculum and media materials as well as more effective classroom methods for making human rights problems meaningful to students.

It is our hope that those involved in education at all levels and in all forms will examine and analyze the 1974 UNESCO Recommendation with an eye toward its applicability in their own situation. The Recommendation consists of both a justification for linking international human rights with education for international understanding, cooperation, and peace and an extensive list of important elements of such education. Its agenda for action is sufficiently compelling that one need not support the particular organization which has sponsored the Recommendation to favor its realization.

Whether Americans agree with all or most of its prescriptions is less important than the opportunity its adoption provides for a fresh look at what we are doing to prepare our young people to deal with the problems of tomorrow. It takes little imagination to predict that the problems of tomorrow will be more global or international both in terms of their implications and solutions than are the problems of today. "Global interdependence" may have become a cliche, but it is also increasingly true. American educational policymakers, administrators, curriculum developers, teachers, and university instructors responsible for pre-service and in-service teacher training will therefore need to give serious consideration to the steps that have to be taken by them to adapt educa

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tional policies and practices to this new reality. An analysis of the suggestions contained in the UNESCO Recommendation can facilitate this task and provide a useful point of departure for this reassessment. The Recommendation can perform a particularly important educational function in such a reassessment because many of the educational principles and policies that it proclaims reflect widely shared global perspectives and aspirations.